Lord Raptor (Zabel Zarock in Japan) is a character from the Darkstalkers series of horror-themed fighting games. He is a zombie who hails from Australia. He has been voiced by Yuji Ueda ever since his debut.

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Raptor was a charismatic young rock star who was an expert guitarist and known as the "God of Metal" among his peers. He was unknown before the release of his first album, "Oral Dead". Though his first album was a commercial flop that only gained a small cult following, not enough interest in him was generated until his second album was released. Upon its debut, it sold 200,000 copies in a month, and soon enough, it reached one million in three months, from which his road to stardom began then on.

In what would become his final live performance, Lord Raptor stood alone on the stage, holding his guitar aloft and screamed: "Emperor Ozom, I have given all that you have asked! Now, it is my turn to receive...". With that, in front of over a hundred Australian fans, Lord Raptor's body crumbled away, leaving behind a pile of bleached bones. Even more horrifically, the blood was completely drained from every single member of his mesmerized audience. Naturally, the next day, this caused a media sensation. Posthumously, he had become the next sensation on the metal scene.

L. Rapter (Zabel) Ending

Ending from Darkstalkers 3

A few days after Raptor's strange death, an odd leather-covered book was found in his house. The book was called "A Chapter of Tolagido" and was written in what seemed to be ancient Hebrew. The book explained the existence of another world called "Makai". The words in the book resembled the lyrics to his hit songs, and in a topic titled "A curse to give sacrifices to the king of Makai", the lyrics to Raptor's song "Sacrifice" were found. This song was the last played during the concert where Raptor and his crowd died. With further research, it was discovered that the preparation for the curse took a long time. Since the first album was released, Raptor had already started to brainwash his potential victims. His apparent aim was to start the curse with his music and obtain sacrifices.

When word of his demonic work came to the ears of Emperor Ozom, he baptized Raptor's soul in darkness and thus resurrected him as a zombie. Ozom then used Raptor's bloodlust to his advantage, enlisting him into his services with the promise of more power. Although Raptor agreed, his true plans were to kill Ozom himself and rule as Emperor. Ozom knew this and had sent a one-eyed, amorphous frog creature named Le Malta originally to spy on Raptor, though he eventually became more of a pet to him. However, when the Emperor and his castle disappeared, Raptor was puzzled. He had arrived at the location where Ozom's castle used to stand, but instead he found the entrance to Majigen, another dimension. This time, he intended to kill the creator of Majigen and take his role. Whether he succeeded or not is unknown.

Punishment - His second album. A million seller album that sold on word of mouth.

Noise of Heaven - The third album, which is more religious and ceremonial. It contains the song "Soul Beats". Its theme is the rebirth of souls. It also contains the song "Black Justice".

Tripper - His first memorial live album which took place in the Southern Cross Hall and gathered 60,000 people. 400 people went unconscious, and 18 people had heart attacks (two of whom died). After this had occurred, holding a concert became harder and police began to monitor his life.

Fangorra - His compilation album which contains unreleased songs. There was a rumor that the album contained a track zero, so the record companies called back the CD. Before the first track, there were 16 seconds of silence. Many people claimed that a devil's curse would play during that time, although there was no music actually recorded during this silence. After the CDs were called back, the original releases became premium items.

Devil - His final and posthumous album, released after his death. Contains the song "Sacrifice", played during his suicide live, which became legendary.

Lord Raptor is a speedy fighter and can utilize his bones as cutting weapons but he can also protrude a sword blade or a chainsaw from his leg. His can spin like a top through the air and cut enemies with the blades sticking out from himself. He is capable of generating electricity in some attacks like Evil Scream and Death Voltage (which forms the shape of a skull). His guitar can also generate sound waves that can harm his enemies too. His assistant/pet, Le Malta will also change shape to help him with certain attacks. Le Malta will aid him in his Hell Dunk by becoming a demonic basketball hoop, Death Phrase by acting as an amplifier for his guitar, and even being turned into a chainsaw during Ultimate Undead.

Lord Raptor's former life was likely based off the 1980's stigma and controversy of heavy metal and rock music in the West being associated with satanism and evil. Coming from Australia, he is also likely to have been based on the Young Brothers of rock band AC/DC; his zombie form is likely a resemblance to Eddie the Head, the zombie-like mascot of the British Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden, while his human side appears to be based on a young Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath.

Lord Raptor's entrance animation changes when fighting Hsien-Ko. During this pose, Lord Raptor’s eyes become hearts and pulse out of his head. This may imply that he is in love with or desires Hsien-Ko. This same animation can be seen during battle whenever Lord Raptor taunts.

However, Hsien-Ko, if her Marvel vs. Capcm 3 quotes are to be considered, has no interest in him, or is shy about it, to the point of being tsundere; in the manga, it is implied she does have feelings for him, but does not admit to it.

Lord Raptor’s entrance animation also changes when fighting Baby Bonnie Hood, though instead of Lord Raptor appearing with hearts pulsing from his eyes, it is Le Malta who is love struck. This can be seen again whenever Lord Raptor taunts during the battle, in which Lord Raptor kicks Le Malta to get him to stop.

For a moment at the beginning of Lord Raptor's Dark Force, he appears for a moment wearing a leather jacket and his hair styled in a mowhawk. There is a one out of sixteen chance that he will appear with an afro instead of a mohawk. This same afro also appears when Lilith performs her Gloomy Puppet Show on him.

Lord Raptor has the ability to move while crouching.

During Demitri's Midnight Bliss, Lord Raptor turns into a young punk teenybopper with a leather bra and shorts on. As Demitri begins to feed on him, he aims a gun towards Demitri. Demitri drains him of his blood before he has a chance to shoot.

During Anakaris' Pharaoh's Curse, Raptor turns into an electric guitar with his own head on it.

During Jedah's San=Passare, Jedah inflates Raptor's buttocks until they explode.

In some USA and European games, Lord Raptor name was misspelled "Lord Rapter".

An alternative version of Lord Raptor is "Gold Raptor", which is an unfinished character for the arcade version of Darkstalkers 3. It's considered to be garbage data which can only be used if by hack. It's unstable when playing the character in arcade mode, and causes the game to reset and crash at the same time. Only shows his lower body when selecting him in the "?", and his Vs. portrait is Baby Bonnie Hood in a deformed corrupt color (same thing with the winning portrait). It is stable only in Vs. mode, which shows him using his Dark Force power (the background of the Dark Force doesn't show up; only his power, with no time limit bar).

Emperor Ozom is known as "The Master" in Lord Raptor's story.

When using ES Death Phrase, Le Malta becomes a giant amplifier that accidentally launches Lord Raptor into the opponent with a powerful soundwave. This may be a reference to the opening scene of Back to the Future where the main character Marty McFly is thrown into a bookcase after playing a power chord in front of a massive amplifier.

He is the only character in the series with a final victory winpose, ie. he wins the game, where demons carry the body of the fallen enemy and he himself turns into his human form; The only other character with this characteristic is Bishamon, prior to Vampire Savior.